Ice or heat this pain?

[Homesteader]

Whoooeee. I was doing some winter watering, and I reached down for something and as I came up I recall twisting a bit to the right at the same time.

I'm a girl by the way. Searing ooooooooooohhhh..... took my breath away pain about three inches up from where the appendix is, to the right of the navel. Took about three minutes before I could move at all. Now it's a dull ache.

Ice or heat?

[Homesteader]

Ok, looks like ice........it's a tad tender but not too bad. Scared me a bit, such an odd sudden ice-pick like pain.

[mekasmom]

ice
Always ice for the first 24 hrs.
Have you ever had surgery that could have caused an adhesion or anything? It sounds too high for an ovary that released an egg.

[dkhern]

for muscle type injury do heat and ice always end w/ice

[dlskidmore]

Neither. Your body knows what it's doing. If the joint needs to be immobilized to heal, it will swell, ice brings down the swelling, but doesn't change the body's need to be immobilized. Heat increases circulation, which you also get from swelling. Swelling is good in most mild to moderate injuries. That's the repair crew reporting for duty.

Occasionally swelling is bad enough to cause circulation problems, or immobility in areas away from the injury. You should consult a doctor if the swelling is that bad, and he probably will proscribe ice after checking that your injury doesn't require intervention.

Rest, move gently, rest, move gently, get lots of sleep and good nutrition. Skip the pain killers unless the pain keeps you from sleeping. Pain is your body's way of telling you how much rest you need.

This article has links to the research:
http://yelling-stop.blogspot.com/201...ice-paleo.html

[Homesteader]

Thanks you sweet people! No ovary (or any other repro organs) yes I sure could have an adhesion and do have intermittent pain lower down for years (right where the appendix is but that's not it). Just can't afford to have the little camera surgery to see for sure. But yes, oddly the docs think I do have adhesions.

I'll just take it easy for sure, nice that it's winter!

[Barn Yarns]

drink lots of water too!

Rest, and Ice

if no improvements, please consult the dr.

[mekasmom]

Originally Posted by dkhern

for muscle type injury do heat and ice always end w/ice

No, never heat first. If there was any tearing of an adhesion that caused some minor bleeding heat would make it bleed more. In any injury, you always do ice first just because there might be a bleed. What if someone tears a muscle? Heat would increase bleeding. Same with any injury. It is always ice first.

[troy n sarah tx]

Ice for first 24 hours. 15-20 minutes at a time every 4 hours. Then heat after 24. Ice reduces swelling that can cause tissue damage, then heat brings in the good guys to help fix the area.

in this case if it isn't muscle/joint/tendon/ligament pain ice and heat will not help much.

Has the pain happened before? What aggravates it? Makes it better?

Sarah RN

[Annsni]

According to my physical therapist professor/practitioner/author friend (so she's not a quack), if there is ANY swelling, use ice. Even if it's a week later, use ice. This was confirmed after my husband had foot surgery and he set inside the cast an EB Ice pad and we used ice for 6 full weeks. He actually never was allowed to use heat on the area until it was with physical therapy and immediately after he was finished, they would ice it again.

[chickenista]

My test for ice or heat is whether the area feels hot and inflamed.
If I have an area that hurts, I run my hand across it. If it is hot and inflamed, then I ice it.
If the area feels stiff and achey, but with no heat coming from it, then I will put heat on it for a short amount of time.

Though most of my pain comes from the hot inflammation (that's just how I roll) I am more of an ice girl.